A Pelosi bailout?  —  House GOP's deal to keep government open may fall apart without Democratic votes.  —  The government will shut down in just eight days unless Congress acts, and Republican lawmakers and aides in and around leadership fear their two-step government-funding plan cannot pass without help — from Nancy Pelosi.

ObamaCare author: Health law is ‘really complicated’  —  Sen. Tom Harkin, one of the coauthors of the Affordable Care Act, now thinks Democrats may have been better off not passing it at all and holding out for a better bill.  —  The Iowa Democrat who chairs the Senate Health, Education …

Mitch McConnell already running the show for the GOP  —  Sen. Mitch McConnell won't become majority leader until next month, but he's already acting the part.  —  The Kentucky Republican, who will visit President Obama Wednesday at the White House, has taken the lead on a variety of thorny issues …

Former Democratic congressional aide pleads guilty to sexual assault  —  A former Democratic congressional aide pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexually assaulting two women in 2010.  —  Donny Ray Williams Jr., 37, who served as a staff director for the Senate Homeland Security …

Fall of the Bond King: How Gross Lost Empire as Pimco Cracked  —  Bill Gross, the 70-year-old king of bonds, rushed through the offices of his $2 trillion empire on a Friday morning distributing hand-written notes.  He knew his reign was over.  —  The billionaire co-founder …

Georgia Town Votes To Ban Muslim Mosque, Residents Hate Islam (Video)  —  While anti-Muslim protesters waved signs outside the Kennesaw City Hall, the City Council voted against allowing an Islamic group the opportunity to rent a retail space in the small Georgia town.

US Army Plans to Send Abrams Tanks and Bradleys to Eastern Europe  —  The new Army commander in Europe plans to bolster the U.S. armored presence in Poland and the Baltic states and keep rotations of U.S. troops there through next year and possibly beyond to counter Russia.

Rolling Stone whiffs in reporting on alleged rape  —  For the sake of Rolling Stone's reputation, Sabrina Rubin Erdely had better be the country's greatest judge of character.  On Nov. 19, the magazine published Erdely's story about a ghastly alleged gang rape at the stately Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at the University of Virginia.

Why Our Memory Fails Us  —  NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, the astrophysicist and host of the TV series “Cosmos,” regularly speaks to audiences on topics ranging from cosmology to climate change to the appalling state of science literacy in America.  One of his staple stories hinges on a line …

House passes bill to end benefits for Nazis  —  The House on Tuesday passed legislation to terminate Social Security benefits for suspected Nazi war criminals.  —  Passed 420-, the bill was approved after an October Associated Press report found that dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals forced …

WEST ANTARCTIC MELT RATE HAS TRIPLED  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. - A comprehensive, 21-year analysis of the fastest-melting region of Antarctica has found that the melt rate of glaciers there has tripled during the last decade.  —  The glaciers in the Amundsen Sea Embayment in West Antarctica …

Canadian woman leaves husband's body decomposing in bedroom for SIX MONTHS while family prays for his resurrection  — He had refused to go to the hospital to treat an infected left foot, deciding God would cure him, and died at 51 after slipping into a coma

The plight of the Southern Democrat  —  Southern Democrats who lost key races this election cycle  —  New Orleans (CNN) — The 2014 elections seemed like the final reckoning for Southern Democrats, the culmination of a political metamorphosis that began in the Civil Rights era and concluded under the nation's first black President.

Hillary should stop dithering  —  The media have moved from Hillary fatigue to Hillary exhaustion  —  Blessed art they who are ready for Hillary, for they have the patience of saints.  —  Each day, they gather money and names and deep data to lay at her feet in preparation for her presidential announcement.

Acting United States Attorney Annette L. Hayes  —  Western District Of Washington  —  Kirkland Resident Arrested For Interstate Threats To Kill  —  Posts Threats to Kill Police following Events in Ferguson, Missouri  —  A Kirkland, Washington resident was arrested on a criminal complaint …

Charles Barkley: We never talk about race until something bad happens  —  Watch Brooke Baldwin's full interview with Charles Barkley on CNN on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET  —  (CNN) — Charles Barkley — who once said he doesn't create controversies, he just brings them to our attention — is at it again.

Economy Doesn't Make Clinton a Favorite in 2016  —  I'd intended to write about the Democratic and Republican primaries this week, but an article from the New Republic's very smart Danny Vinik caught my eye.  So, the primaries will have to wait.  Referencing a piece by Ed Luce in the Financial Times …

U.S. Partisanship Shifts to GOP After Midterms  —  Story Highlights  —  PRINCETON, N.J. — Since the Republican Party's strong showing on Election Day last month, Americans' political allegiances have shifted toward the GOP.  Prior to the elections, 43% of Americans identified as Democrats …

Stephen Hawking warns artificial intelligence could end mankind  —  Prof Stephen Hawking, one of Britain's pre-eminent scientists, has said that efforts to create thinking machines pose a threat to our very existence.  —  He told the BBC:"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race."

Woman sues Bill Cosby, claiming underage abuse  —  Associated Press 3 hrs ago  —  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bill Cosby was sued Tuesday by a Southern California woman who claims the comedian molested her in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion around 1974 when she was 15 years old.

Wife and suspected son of Islamic State leader arrested  —  A wife and suspected son of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group, were arrested in Lebanon.  It comes as U.S. military members receive their strongest warning yet that they could be personally targeted by the terrorist group.